"The mountains are calling, and I must go." —John Muir

Since when …

To no one’s surprise the first individual time trial of the 2007 Tour de France proved a decisive affair. What was unexpected was the ride of yellow-jersey holder Michael Rasmussen. Instead of cracking under the weight of ongoing doping allegations and questionable time-trialing abilities, the beleaguered Rabobank leader had the ride of his life on Saturday, ceding only 2:55 to stage winner Alexander Vinokourov during the 54km race against the clock in and around Albi.

Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme said Saturday that organizers could have refused to allow Michael Rasmussen to compete in this year’s race if they had known that he had missed several random doping tests in the past two years.

One mised test (in or out of competition), I can understand … after what the Green Lantern and Bartman went through over the past year dealing with the fuck-ups at USADA. But several out-of-competition tests over the past two years? SEVERAL???

If Prudhomme is serious about cleaning up the Tour then he should boot Ass-munchin’s sorry ass out of the Tour right now, and put the yellow jersey on Cadel Evan’s shoulders, where it rightly belongs (for now).

Regardless of whether or not any of the other riders are clean, at least they cheat, they’re still playing the game by the rules … but the only way to miss several tests is to just flat out ignore the rules.